Proving the Snoqualmie Pass
After successful winter cattle drives, boosters argue that the Snoqualmie route is the best mountain pass for a future transcontinental railroad.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
If there were any doubts regarding the practicability of building a railroad over the Cascade mountains through the Snoqualmie pass, they are all dissipated now, since the enterprising people of Ellensburg have demonstrated that the route is a feasible one. This fact has been established to the satisfaction of the people of Yakima, since the road has been kept open all winter so that persons could go over the mountains at any time. Bands of horses and herds of beef cattle have passed over in perfect safety, and without the loss of a single head. The trip has been made on horseback in four days, from Ellensburg to Seattle. The Snoqualmie pass is by all odds the most favorable for railroad purposes, on account of its easy gradients and low altitude. This winter work by private enterprise has taught the residents on both sides of the mountains a lesson that may prove of some practical utility to companies interested in that direction.
“This is the kind of information that has been needed to set at rest the croakings of persons who have spoken so freely without the book.”
Long before I-90 paved the way for modern commuting, the Snoqualmie Pass was the subject of a bitter, decades-long battle for dominance between railroad magnates. Proving it was 'passable' in winter was the first step in Seattle's quest to become the dominant terminal city of the Pacific Northwest.
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